Jenessa Mission Letter #5

Letter #5-  Another beautiful Week

Well I love your letters.  I must say I am probably the most blessed missionary in the whole world who has a family that shares their spiritual thoughts and experiences with me that help increase my faith and lift me up!!! I am so grateful for you all and for the time and effort you put into this letter and into supporting me!!!! I really love and appreciate you so much!!!!  I hope that my letters to you can lift your faith as much as you have lifted mine!

Are the kids so excited for school?? Who learned how to drive the Ford??  I am sorry so many people have ruined their boats out on the lake that is absolutely awful!!!  I love Melinda and Dayne, they are so cute.  That must have been a great Sacrament meeting!!!  Thanks for writing me during not football season!!!! That would be super hard not to hear from you more than that!!!  Something that I am learning about people with special needs is that they are in a place where they can live so close to the Savior.  I am glad though that you had those experiences with Jon and that he has brought you so much joy!!!!

I think I LITERALLY just gained 10 pounds reading about that yummy treat!!! You better make me some when I get home!!!! We don't have much time to cook and bake out here, but I would imagine that it is amazing!!!!!

Jason and Rachael eh?? Well I am happy to hear that it is going well!!!! Yay for a two year old girl!!!! Jason will make a great decision, if this is what he really wants I know that it will all work out in the end.  Any two people if they are keeping the commandments and continually working to come towards Christ can make a marriage work. 

I am glad that mine and David's story has set such a bar for the kids and for Jason.  It doesn't always work like our story but I love what you are saying about having a divine dream.  Maybe if more people set their divine dream on becoming more like the Savior they would appreciate their trials more.  I would imagine that God feels like that towards all of us.  Because He wants so badly for us to come back and live with Him, any progress we make is going to be a reason for Him to bless us, even though we are not perfect yet.  That is a great principle though.   You will never know if you are reaching new heights unless you figure out how high you want to reach.  I am excited to read this book that you are writing Dad.  I am really going to share some of those things with some of the Less Actives that we are working with!!!  I appreciate how much time and effort obviously went into this letter and into your love and care for me.  I love you guys and miss you so much!!!!

This week has been another week full of miracles out here in Michigan.  I am finding more and more that if you would like to see miracles, all you need to do is look for them!!!

This week we have been really focusing on one of our investigators named Don.  (Some of the missionaries call him Dirty D)  To give you an idea of who he is he has really long hair (Annaleces long) Its gray and really thin and He probably only has 5 teeth.  He lives in a trailer park and prides himself on being a historian.  So the sisters before have been working with him for 5 weeks or so but he has a major problem with the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.  Mainly he just isn't sure about whether or not it's true and doesn't feel like he knows what the spirit feels like.  Well we felt like we needed to talk about his relationship with God as his father.  We sang him "I am a Child of God" and he started crying and talking about how amazing he felt when he was singing the hymns in church, how it reminded him of being a little boy singing in the baptist choir.  He really felt the Spirit.  He probably cried for 10 minutes or so.  How powerful a knowledge that we have - God is YOUR FATHER.  That very truth can motivate and inspire us to do anything that we would ever need to do or go through knowing that you are a CHILD OF GOD and you can BECOME LIKE GOD!!! Can you believe that?? It was a really neat lesson because we were all so in tune with the spirit and even though we were in a dirty place and there were people yelling different stuff all around us, his porch became a sacred place at that moment.  The spirit is so powerful and there is no way I would be able to do anything with my companion without it.  We had a lesson with a member there as well with him later that week and she just connected with him so well!!!! It was amazing!!! Members are meant to be such a big part of this work.  She really propelled him forward in understanding and in feeling included as part of the ward.  He won't accept the invitation to be baptized yet, but He is feeling the spirit.  My job is only to invite others to come unto Christ- after that; Christ will do the rest.

This is a truth that I have been learning this week.  It is not MY job to convince people that the Book of Mormon is true or that Joseph Smith is a prophet.  I want them to have the knowledge and power that comes from having that light and knowledge but it is not my job to convince them.  The job of a missionary is simple.  I connect a phone line that lets the person I am talking with access the love of the Savior.  This is what will convince us of the truthfullness of the gospel.  The reason that the church is true is not because any missionary or prophet says it is, it is true because GOD says it is. 

We had another miracle where we had been working on some of Nick's (boy getting baptized) referrals.  We went through all of them and were not getting too far when I had the feeling that we needed to turn.  Well I didn't say anything and then Sister Taylor pulled over the car and said, there's something else we need to be doing.  I suggested that we go tract.  I LOVE TRACTING.  She then said ya we should go to Detroit street (which is where I felt like we needed to turn) So we were driving down detroit street and I felt the Spirit super strong near a few houses and then it left as we kept driving, we got to the end of the street and Sister Taylor turned and said maybe not that street.  I then spoke up and said we needed to be on Detroit and Dartmouth.  We tracted 3 houses and then were going to go to dinner and I had the feeling "just go put a card on that persons door" and Sister Taylor said well let's just try it then.  So as I walked up to these people's door I held my hand up to knock and the door opened.  2 men were inside obviously a bit drunk but very very Christian.  They were super open to what we had to say and then we set an appointment and came back with a member and had a really neat lesson with them about the Book of Mormon and the Bible.  We gave them both a Book of Mormon and we will see what happens but I know that we were supposed to be there.  It was really a neat experience!!

I am just so touched by all of the experiences that we have been having here.  There are a lot of people who are without any hope, they don't have any worldly possessions, they don't have food, they don't have the power that comes from coming closer to Jesus Christ.  It breaks my heart to see people not have the joy that comes from this gospel of hope.  I am coming to understand what it means when the prophets of the Book of Mormon say that their hearts are weighed down in sorrow because of the sins or pride of the people.  Yet even though there is a lot of darkness, the light of Christ will penetrate any darkness no matter how thick, no matter how long it has been there.  The ward I am serving in is such a light.  There are new converts teaching investigators and investigators who teach with the missionaries.  I can't adequately describe how much joy there is here either.  I feel like Alma the younger when he describes the pain and sorrow of sin and the joy that comes from the gospel and being forgivien of his sins.  Here I have experienced that joy as I have seen people come to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.  "And oh, what joy and what marvelous light I did bejold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain."

The fact of the matter is that when we feel pain, we know that if we are faithful our pain will be filled with the mercy and the joy of the Lord to the extent that it will completely cover as much as we were in pain!!!

My companion and I have been breaking down every aspect of D&C 4 and studying the different qualities we need to have in order to do this work.  Each day we study a different one and work on that.  Have I mentioned I LOVE MY COMPANION!!! One thing you might find interesting

We were studying virtue and as it pertained to missionary work.  In the topical guide virtue is a synonym for holliness and one of the definitions for holliness is "God's standard of righteousness"  Being virtuous is more than being "clean"  We studied it really in depth but what I thought was neat was this.

Virtue is knowing how much worth you are to God.  Your worth is above rubies.  When you return these "rubies" to god you will want them to be as clean and sparkly as they were when God gave them to you so that you can measure up to this "Standard of righteousness"  We express virtue thorugh our obedience.  This is how we treat the gift we have been given and this is how we will continually polish ourselves and make ourselves ready to meet our maker. 

So in short.  Virtue is the process of continual polish and cleaning (repenting and refocusing) that will help us measure up to God's standard of righteousness. 

I hope you are all doing well I pray for you every day and think about you so much.  I miss you like crazy and I wish I could see you all the time!!!!! Will you send me more pictures of the family together?? I would love to see you in different places in my scriptures and stuff like that if you get time.  I miss you and think about you all the time.  I am so grateful for everything you have done for me!!!! I appreciate your prayers and your letters and support!!!!

P.S. We put John on date for baptism on the 7th.  We are going to help him quit smoking. but he's totally elect!!! He is looking for truth and believes everything he has been taught YAYAS!!! I am so FREAKING EXCITED!!

Let it be known that Sister Weber has the most amazing family in the entire world and that I love you more than words can say!!!! I think about you often, thank you for everything you do!!!

P.P.S.
I wish I could tell you everything I am learning but alas :) I can't! Soooo here's an experience you will like.  Last night I really poured my heart out to Heavenly Father I felt like I wanted to run faster than I felt I had strength and I really just sat on my bed and prayed with all my heart.  I felt the strength of angels around me.  I prayed that that night I would have some sort of revelation that would help me do better.  That night I woke up after clearly as if Mom had said it "The secret to this work, is smiling.  All you have to do is smile."  I woke up with the words ringing in my head.  I know that even if you aren't sure about what to do, if you give the reigns to the Lord and smile, that is all the faith you need to be led to do great things.  So don't forget to smile!!!

Jenessa Mission Letter #4

Letter #4-  HEYA

HEYYYYYY

I'm so glad to hear from all y'all!!!!!! I don't have that picture but I am sure it is a fun one!!! Sounds like the Weber's all dominated sunday that's for sure!!! How do you all like RAchael??? I will try to make myself more available to Google earth to find me but we are just too busy teaching people on their porches that we just can't spend too much time on the street ;)

I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that life has continued on to business as usual!!! I love hearing all of the fun things you are doing and the sweet stories the kid's send me.  I wish I had more time for emails and I could answer back to all of your amazing emails!!!! Tell David I really loved that story about the boy who got a blessing from the less active man and was brought back to life.  That is really faith promoting!!! It goes to show that if we have faith in the power of God and we act on it, we can do amazing things!!!!

Man I miss y'all like crazy crazy crazy!!!!!

Dearborn is my favorite place I have ever been!!!! It's absolutely beautiful!!! I love my zone and I love my district and I love my ward and I love my companion!!!!! Everyone here is so sweet.  Our area is over the really poor part of Dearborn. So people here live with almost nothing, but are so giving and generous to one another.  We had dinner with the Williams family last night and they have taken in so many people who have been looking for homes and who are stranded.  It's absolutely astonishing to see the goodness that people have!!! They give everything they have to support one another.  We have so much to be grateful for.  My companion and I were planning the other day and a little black boy was outside talking to His friend and he said that his family didn't have blankets or beds.  It broke my heart, he was living in an apartment right next to us and he didn't even have a blanket.  Needless to say I felt really lucky to have mine.

I am learning that life is all about the little things.  When you have a pencil, a cool breeze, a blanket- they're all blessings!!! Can you believe that there are people in the united states that don't even have food to eat at night?? I have never been so grateful for things like biscuits that are made for us by members because it's all that they have. 

We are teaching a TON of people right now and we are working on finding more.  Our area has the highest concentration of Muslim people in the whole North American Continent.  So we have to kind of steer around those unless we feel prompted otherwise.  We are teaching a boy named Nick he's 19 and is a little bit autistic.  We were worried that he might be doing things for the wrong reasons but last night he called us and told us that he had sat on his bed for 4 hours and has come to decide that this is exactly what he wants.  He said "You guys just make sense.  Before you sister's came along I didn't get it, I didn't understand anything, but you make sense.  This makes me happier than anything else."  He went on like that for about 10 minutes.  I am here to tell you that it is absolutely true what they say about having no greater joy than bringing other souls to Christ.  He is going to be baptized on August 31.  I really didn't have too much to do with teaching him, but it's been great to step on the scene and support what has been done.  He is a really special spirit.

We are teaching a less active family named the Valasquez.  She and her family went inactive after their son was born with a whole bunch of issues and she said she didn't feel like the Book of Mormon spoke to her or made her feel anything.  She also said that she didn't get anything out of the hymns.  It was really neat because I could identify with the way she felt because I didn't always know HOW to study the Book of Mormon in a way that I would get things out of it.  So the next lesson we taught her we had her ask any question.  Hers was how to make her relationship better with her husband.  Then we taught her how to look things up in the index and with the bible dictionary and topical guide so she didn't have to "sort through unrelated scriptures" by having her give synonyms to things she thought would help her problems.  Anyways it was really neat because she started finding the scriptures on her own through her own revelation.  She looked over at us and was like.... I feel it!  Anyways she's got a 13 year old son that doesn't want anything to do with the church and we are going to work with him!!!

There are soo many people that we are teaching and it is amazing to see them for what they can become!!!! Its also amazing to look at yourself with your own weaknesses and see yourself for what you can become!!! Scripture reading has been really cool as well as companionship study.  Sister Taylor and I have been disecting D&C 4 today we studied faith.  It was cool because I brought up that if we have faith we will know that Christ is who He says He is.  If we believe that, then we also must believe that WE are who Christ and God says WE are.  If God has faith in us, why shouldn't we have faith in ourselves. 

This meant a lot to me because at the beginning I was so scared and I had a really hard time like talking to people. It's been getting better.  It's a choice to act in faith and teach with the spirit!!! I really have to focus on the investigator and really feel the spirit when I teach.  But I am learning so much.  The Character of Christ is that whenever He would want to turn in, He always turned out.  He never told experiences of miracles He had done or bragged about His power.  He focused on the doctrines He was teaching and the needs of the people who were searching for truth.  That is the character we need to seek to have!!  We went out contacting for the first time the other day and boy is that better than tracting.  I can talk to anyone when they are buying yogurt hahaha.  Teaching is one of the best experiences I have ever had.  Sister Taylor mentioned though this morning that you can't convert someone past your own conversion though!  So that was interesting to learn.

I love President Gerber and His wife is a doll!!! He mentioned in His interview with me that when I was leaving to Deseret Book He thought He would never see me again (He saw me the day before my last day) He said it was such a treat to see that I would be coming to His mission and He knew that I'd be able to do amazing things.  He really is the best.  What a great teacher.

Honestly every single day is a miracle.  Every moment that I wear this badge, a seed is planted.  And that is all that the Lord asks us to do, is to plant seeds and harvest them!!!! Wow but really!!!!  There are never any failures!!!!

My zone is great, we had zone conference the other day and they were talking about how as missionaries we have the tendency to shoot down people's problems and to just "fix" things.  Our Zone Leader said "You can't take out your sharp shooter and just take care of your investigators problems on sight like that."  Well then I made the comment that

True conversion comes not when we shoot their problems.  True conversion will come for the people we teach when we show them 'this is what the safety is and this is how it works'  and 'this is what the barrell is and this is what it's purpose is and it's this long because....'  True conversion is when we have taught them everything there is to know about that gun which is truly symbolic of Christ's atonement, and they take it in their hands and pull the trigger and are able to shoot down their own problem with the power that comes from the Sacrifice and knowledge that Christ died for us and we will be able to live with God again.

Anyways that is what I am learning.  I have been so changed, in just a week we are learning so much.  We are tracting lots, contacting, and teaching and reactivating.  It is so much fun!!!! There is nothing better than this work.  Can you believe that this is what I get to do for 18 months??? I am so excited to see what there is in store beyond this.  I have never been so happy.  Sure things are hard.  But it makes it easier knowing that Christ walked where we walked and every step is a success.  Even if no one listened to our message all day, which hasn't happened but if it did, our success would be that we talked to ever person we did and we planted every seed we could!!!!

The ward is super sweet, did you ever serve in the dearborn ward dad?? Lot's of people want to know.  I bore my testimony on Sunday and it went along with everything we were talking about that day in church.  Anyways I need to go but I love everything I love you and miss you and hope you are doing well!!!!!!

Sister Weber

Jenessa Mission Letter #3

Letter #3-  Address and Alive!!

Family!!!

I got a companion today!!! Her name is Sister Taylor and I love her!!!!!! All is well here in Michigan I are ready to get right to work!!!!

Sister Taylor thought it would be nice if I emailed y'all where our address is :) 

Hope you are doing well

Address

give or take a street ;) 

 441 Yorkshire Blvd. 

Apt 201

Dearborn Heights Michigan 83274

Jenessa Mission Letter #2

Letter #2-  I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!

I am so glad that I got to talk to you today!!!! It made me feel so good to hear your voice on the other end of the phone.  I am sorry it was so early but I am so glad that I got to talk to you.  Thank you for everything you have done for me and how much you have supported me!!!!!!! We got off the plane and as we walked into the baggage area and President Gerber and His wife were there ready to greet us!!!! They are so sweet, their spirit is absolutely incredible!!!!

MICHIGAN IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD!!!! It's so green and pretty and the people are amazing.  The mission home is in the prettiest spot in the world I'm telling you, I've never seen anything so green!!!! PLUS!!!! WE SAW FIREFLIES!!!! ahhhhhhh I didn't know this was going to be happening today!!!!

Fireflies are the coolest thing ever!!!

We also went out and went tracting with some of the seasoned sisters.  I went with Sister Ewing and it was actually really fun.  I love meeting new people.  We taught a sweet lady in her garage and she wasn't interested but it's just great to see them :) Also we taught a less active member with Sister Brown and the other Sister.  It was super fun and way eye opening.  

I love the President.  I love His wife.  I love this work.  I am so excited to finally be here.  

WE MADE IT SAFE!!!!

I love you with all of my heart.  I don't get to read emails and respond until Monday next week which is our Pday :) But I will look forward to reading your emails and writing you then!!!

<3 Sister Weber!

P.S. I am praying for you all.